I’m really sick of white people claiming to be my friend but not being an ally. I'm really tired of white friends not attempting to recognize my experience as a black person. Because if you had a clue about who I am or what I've been through, the words Starbucks and Waffle House would not be coming out of your mouth. Not right now.
If you are my friend, I want and need you to acknowledge –
not ignore - my blackness. Consider who I am as a person – all of me. The female,
the person of color, the sensitive, the ambitious, the smart-assed. Some
elements that make up who I am impact how I see and how I am seen.
Considering each other’s unique traits is what friends do. If
you’re a big girl, I don’t lead us to the tight little booth at the restaurant.
You’ve shared with me the pain of having to sit in tight little booths and being
uncomfortable. So I know to consider your physical size and comfort level. And
I don’t ask you about it, I just quietly steer us away. I tell the hostess I
don’t like that spot, what about this one.
We all should consider the spaces that make our friends uncomfortable. And we all should try to help each other navigate a world that sometimes says we don’t fit in, we don’t belong.
That’s what friends do.
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